The war on drugs is based on the myth that if you intervene with the produce and distribution of illegal narcotics, this will solve the issue. However, it is proven that not any substance in itself is addictive. Addiction has and always will remain in the susceptibility of the individual. We all know that not everyone will be addicted to cigarettes after smoking, not everyone becomes an alcoholic after a glass of wine nor will everyone become addicted to cocaine after using it. Their battle to ‘protect us’ from the harmful effects of illegal drugs now appears to me, to be more of a distraction from the very real issues that we are seeing in society right now.

The dictionary defines a drug as being “a chemical substance that affects the processes of the mind or body” which is obviously any chemical substance. Whereas addiction is defined as being “the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance or activity”, which now broadens the picture a whole lot further. Therefore I’d find addiction as being ANY behaviour that is associated with cravings, temporary relief, long term negative consequences and the inability to gain control over it even if they wish to stop. So why then is somebody with a food addiction, for example, who is in the same state of mind, be regarded less harshly than someone who is addicted to anything else? It is obvious that it is not the state of being addicted that society frowns upon; you just have to be addicted to something that society deems as being acceptable. And this is not acceptable.

There are workaholics, people addicted to video games, coffee, exercise and food just to name a few. How many people do you know who are addicted to any one of these? So what’s the difference? Well one has been made to be illegal and nobody questions the real reasons why, whereas, the latter is endorsed and coincides with a sense of normalcy in society – despite the negative repercussions that they can have on us.

So what if I said there was an addiction to power? Those people who have power but need more and more and more, nothing is ever enough for them. What about the addiction to acquisition, where corporations must own more and more? Or indeed the global addiction to oil and the wealth, products and services that are made accessible from oil? Look at the dire effects that it is having on our environment. We all know that we’re destroying the very Earth that we inhabit, yet we need more just to feed our addiction.

Now these addictions are far more devastating than the social consequences of cocaine or heroin users, yet they’re rewarded and considered to be respectable. Tobacco smoke related illnesses kills five and a half million people every year, yet the highest grossing tobacco companies will receive the highest profit, will not face any legal consequences and are in fact seen as equally respectable across the board of other companies. Their addiction to profit is so great, that they are actually in denial about the impact that their activities have on us – which is typical for addicts.

It is disrespectable to be addicted to profit even if you disregard the costs. So it appears that what is acceptable and what is respectable is a highly subjective phenomenon in our societies. It seems that the greater the harm, the more respectable the addiction.

I believe that we are all addicted to something, whether it be beneficial or harmful, yet it is in our nature to satisfy our urges whatever they are – just some a more apparent, taboo and debilitating to ourselves and others. We should think twice about addiction because we have all been touched by it in one way or another. Just pay attention to what your habits are having on you and the ones around you, whatever it is, but you should still have the freedom in your life of choice. At the end of the day, we are still living in a world of heavy penalties for petty drug crimes; even though the ‘man in the suit’ is really to blame for assisting in the rapid decline of our planet and each other from wars and wealth. They’ve just built a society that has some damn good scapegoats that’s all…

“Power is an emptiness that gets filled from the outside, so let us not look to those in power to change things because those in power are the emptiest in the world… they’re never going to change unless we make them.”